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A quick rundown of Ohio child protection news this week
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Weekly Update for April 10, 2017
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Association Updates
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month – Wear Blue April 12!
PCSAs will be marking Child Abuse Prevention Month throughout April with awareness events, and they’re promoting Wear Blue on April 12. Wear Blue information is available at www.pcsao.org/programs/wear-blue and photos can be posted to local agency Facebook pages and/or to the state page at www.facebook.com/WearBlueOhio/. Be sure to use the hashtag #OhioWearsBlue. The Ohio Children’s Trust Fund hosted a kickoff event Friday that featured Franklin County Children Services and the message that “Every 30 minutes one child is abused or neglected in Ohio.” The theme and hashtag #inthenext30minutes is being used throughout the month to raise awareness. Learn more at www.next30.org. These free national tools can support your promotional, outreach, and social media activities. Learn more.
Board of Trustees meet
The PCSAO Board of Trustees met on April 5 and approved March's meeting minutes and Treasurer's report. The Board approved not continuing PCSAO's efforts in collecting quarterly safety incident reports as this has been in place for 15 years but instead collect best practice online resources for PCSAs to access. Recent reports including a ten-year study can be found here. The Board discussed and approved PCSAO not taking on workforce development as a priority right now and how best to approach immigration issues that PCSAs are or may be experiencing as a follow-up to the Executive Membership meeting in March. It was decided that the immigration topic would best be approached through a shared-services lens and be prioritized after the state budget. The meeting concluded with discussion on recent legislative actions, status of the state budget, and other priority updates. The Board will meet next on May 3.
Dues Committee conference call
The PCSAO Dues Committee held its second meeting via conference call on April 3. The Committee reviewed 6 possible dues structures. The Committee is charged to recommend at least two dues structures to the Board of Trustees by early June. The Board will then review the possible scenarios and recommend at least 2 to go to membership for their review at the June 29-30 Executive Membership meeting. The Dues Committee will meet at PCSAO on April 21.
Metro District meets
The Metro District held its first strategy meeting that is co-sponsored by ODJFS, Casey Family Programs, and PCSAO on April 7. The focus on the meeting was how metro PCSAs were using CQI practice to improve outcomes. The group received presentations from Hamilton County JFS on how they are improving visitations with families; from Lorain County CS on how they are reducing cases from reopening within 90 days of case closure; and from Cuyahoga County DCFS on how they are improving retention of the workforce using the Annie E. Casey Foundation's On the Front Line model. ODJFS shared updates on predictive analytics and their workforce grant application. The metro district discussed plans for the next meeting and what possible CQI efforts could be addressed across metro PCSAs. The Metro District Strategy meeting will meet next on July 14.
PCSAO Rules Committee meets
The PCSAO Rules Committee met via teleconference on Apr. 6. ODJFS presented and discussed rules currently in clearance as well as draft rules for the new BRIDGES program. The Committee will next meet on May 4.
Rules Updates
The following rules are currently in clearance until April 14. To comment, click here.
- 5101:2-5-32 Occupancy limitations and accessibility. This rule is being amended to clarify exceptions for capacity limits.
- 5101:2-5-38 Payment of foster caregiver training stipends; reimbursement of training allowance to recommending agencies. This rule is being amended regarding payment of stipends and allowances.
- 5101:2-9-36 Additional requirements for children’s crisis care facilities. This rule is being amended to bring awareness to new legislation described in ORC 5101.132.
New Execs Orientation registration still open
Only a couple spots are left in the April 24-25 New Executives Orientation. The two-day session in Columbus will include an introduction to child protection legal, fiscal, management, and outcomes issues, along with sessions devoted to advocacy, training, and communications. The training is open to PCSA directors and senior staff. Contact Scott@pcsao.org to register.
Call for Presenters
The 2017 PCSAO Conference will be Sept. 27-29 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Columbus. The theme is “Everyday Heroes,” inspired by children services caseworkers and others who dedicate their careers to protecting children and strengthening families. We are seeking presenters who offer insight, strategies, and hands-on resource materials. We are looking for workshops designed to share best practices and successful strategies that will empower our “everyday heroes.” The conference is an outstanding opportunity for you to make a valuable contribution to the advancement of child protection practice in Ohio. We invite you to submit a proposal to present at the conference. The deadline for submission is May 1. Download Call for Presenters. More about the 2017 PCSAO Conference.
2017 PCSAO Award Nominations
At our Annual Conference, PCSAO recognizes the achievements of PCSA supervisors, caseworkers, and support staff, as well as local journalists whose work has made extraordinary contributions toward promoting safe children, stable families and supportive communities. PCSAO also celebrates children/youth and families who have been served by Ohio’s public children services agencies. We are inviting all 85 PCSAs to nominate their outstanding staff and rising stars. The deadline for our award nominations is June 15. Download the award nomination forms: Professional Awards and Youth and Family Awards.
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Announcements and Resources
Ohio Birth Parent Engagement Strategies Webinar
This one-hour webinar with the Birth Parent National Network is scheduled for April 13, 2017 at noon ET. The webinar will be highlighting Ohio birth parent engagement strategies. Presenters include Karen Erizim, Jim Miller, Renay Sanders and Crystal Ward Allen. Register now.
2017 Brainy Practitioner: Focus on Implicit Bias Conference
Research on the connection between neuroscience and mental health has boomed in recent years. To better train social workers on the subject, NASW Ohio has hosted conferences on the theme, Science of Social Work. The conference will still focus on the intersection of neuroscience and practice with a sub-theme that relates to a population or issue. For more information about the conference and registration.
2017 NASW Annual Conference
The conference will be held on November 16-17 in Columbus.
If you are interested in submitting a Call for Presentations, please click here for more information. The deadline for submission is June 15, 2017.
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Child Protection in the News
- April 6 – Chronic pain sufferers are scared by Ohio’s new opioid rules – NBC News
Chronic pain sufferers fear they could become casualties in the war on Ohio's opioid overdose epidemic. They say recent moves by Gov. John Kasich to fight the plague by restricting how many painkillers can be prescribed will add to their anguish — and could force them to go underground to find the relief they need to make it through a day.
- April 6 – Children are “invisible victims” in heroin battle (Included video) – Fox28 News
Across Ohio children of parents addicted to opiates are flooding into the state's child protection system. Angela Sausser, Executive Director of the Children Services Association Ohio called them "invisible victims."
- April 6 – Ohio’s opioid epidemic addressed – The News Record
Ohio lawmakers get serious about tackling Ohio’s opiate epidemic by passing a law limiting opiate prescriptions by doctors, dentists and other licensed health professionals.
- April 5 – Everyone can help end child abuse – Telegraph-Forum
A child is abused in Ohio every 30 minutes. Everyone plays a role in helping end child abuse and neglect. Holtzmann said the children cannot be helped until law enforcement, teachers, neighbors or random stranger notice the warning signs and call the agency.
- April 5 – Ohio START to help families – Fairborn Daily Herald
Children traumatized as a result of their parents’ drug abuse are often the invisible victims of the opioid epidemic. They may have gone days without food or adequate supervision. They may have been abused. And they may have witnessed a parent inject drugs, overdose, or even die.
- April 4 – State of the State 2017: Kasich allocates $20 million for opioid crisis – WCPO
Gov. John Kasich asked the Ohio Third Frontier Commission to invest $20 million dollars to come up with new ways to combat the state's opioid epidemic at Tuesday night's State of the State address.
- April 3 – Need for foster families grows as Ohio’s heroin epidemic continues (Includes video) – Cleveland19.com
Those who have heard and read about heroin overdoses in Ohio may not have considered what happens to the children left behind when someone dies from a heroin-related problem.
- April 2 – More Valley kids are in foster care as child abuse rises – WKBN
April is National Child Abuse Awareness month - and for an idea of how big of a problem it is in the Valley - Trumbull County Children Services has seen 55 percent more kids in their care within the last two years.
- April 1 – Program to help kids hurt by parents’ drug abuse – Star Beacon
According to the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, 50 percent of the children placed in foster care in 2015 were there as a consequence of parental drug use. In the years since the opioid crisis erupted in Ohio, the number of children taken into agency custody has jumped 11 percent and their stays in foster care have lengthened by 19 percent.
- March 31 – Child Abuse victim: If you don’t talk about it ‘you will die from the inside out’ – Cincinnati Enquirer
The pain, shame and guilt that 6-year-old Mike Pistorino felt as he was sexually abused by a neighbor stayed with him through his adult years. "I carried it with me," he said. "I kept it deep, deep down in my belly. I didn't deal with the pain. I didn't tell. But, if you don't talk about what happened to you, you'll die from the inside out."
- March 31 – Kasich cracks down on opioid prescriptions with strict limit – Daily Caller
Ohio is being hit particularly hard by the national opioid epidemic, which claimed a record 33,000 lives in the U.S. in 2015. The opioid death rate in the state spiked 13 percent between 2014 and 2015, among the largest increases in the country. Heroin deaths increased by nearly 20 percent over the same period, claiming 1,444 lives.
- March 31 – Pinwheels for Prevention returning to courthouse steps Monday – New Philadelphia Times-Reporter
Colorful pinwheels will be twirling in the breeze on the Tuscarawas County courthouse steps through the end of April. The pinwheels will be put in place on Monday. The pinwheels display is in conjunction with Pinwheels for Prevention, Prevent Child Abuse, Ohio's statewide public awareness campaign.
- March 31 – Taking its toll: Drug abuse affects local families – The Marion Star
The heroin epidemic continues to take a devastating toll on families in Ohio. Unfortunately, in Marion County, as in other communities, children are sometimes forgotten in the midst of the crisis, unintended victims of neglect and abuse by parents or other family members addicted to illicit drugs.
- March 31 – New rule limits narcotic painkiller prescriptions to seven days – The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio doctors, dentists and some nurses will be unable to prescribe more than seven days of narcotic pain killers — five days for minors — under rule changes announced today by Gov. John Kasich.
- March 29 – Trump, Christie pledge to combat nation’s opioid addiction – ABC News
President Donald Trump is vowing to step up efforts to combat the nation's opioid addiction crisis, and he's tapped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to lead the fight.
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April 24 I Southeast District Meeting
April 24
I Legislative Committee Meeting
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“We must protect families, we must protect children, who have inalienable rights and should be loved, should be taken care of physically and mentally, and should not be brought into the world only to suffer.” - Indira Gandhi
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Public Children Services Association of Ohio | 614-224-5802 |
www.pcsao.org
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